Oscars winner DiCaprio calls for action on climate change

“Let us not take this planet for granted” was the resounding message from Leonardo DiCaprio as he accepted an Academy Award for best actor for his role in The Revenant.

The 41-year-old actor, who is a well-known environmentalist and climate change activist, used his acceptance speech as a platform to warn about the effects of global warming.

DiCaprio received a standing ovation as he picked up his award. During his speech, DiCaprio thanked The Revenant director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu as well as his co-star Tom Hardy, the cast and crew and director Martin Scorsese. It was then that DiCaprio’s speech turned to a subject close to his heart- climate change.

“Making The Revenant was about man’s relationship with the natural world,” DiCaprio said.

“A world that we collectively felt in 2015 was the hottest year in recorded history. Our production team needed to go to the southern tip of this planet just to be able to find snow.

“Climate change is real – it is happening right now,” said DiCaprio. “It is the most urgent threat facing our species, and we need to work collectively together and stop procrastinating.”

The actor then asked the audience to “support leaders around the world who do not speak for the big polluters or the big corporations but who speak for all of humanity, for the indigenous people of the world, for the billions and billions of underprivileged people who’ll be affected by this.”

He added: “Let us not take this planet for granted. I do not take tonight for granted.”

Speaking to reporters after his win, DiCaprio said: “I feel very honoured, to share this has been an amazing experience, to sit there and talk about the film.

“I also got to talk about something I have been obsessed with – the environment and climate change – on a platform with hundreds of millions of people watching worldwide.”

It has been 22 years since the actor was first nominated for an Academy Award, having been nominated for best supporting actor for What’s Eating Gilbert Grape.